BEACH Volleyball Republic national champions Team Ato Ni Bai and Team Tagum-PNP will lead the Philippine contingent at the first-ever FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Manila Open, dubbed as the biggest international beach volleyball event to be held in Philippine shores, to be held on May 3 to 6 at the SM Sands By The Bay.
The FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour is the worldwide professional beach volleyball tournament for both men’s and women’s competition organized by the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB). ABS-CBN Sports, as the official broadcaster of the tournament, will livestream all matches on the ABS-CBN Sports Youtube channel, and will air the matches on the last day on ABS-CBN S+A and S+A HD on May 17 and 18 at 4 p.m.
Jade Becaldo and Calvin Sarte reigned supreme in the recent BVR National Championship to earn a ticket to the World Tour that is brought to the country by BVR in its quest to give fans the best in beach volleyball action. Joining them in representing the Philippines are BVR runners-up Kevin Juban and Raphy Abanto of Team UV and Ranran Abdilla and Edwin Tolentino of Air Force, plus Kris Roy Guzman and Henry Pecana of Team Tigers.
For the women’s division, Team Tagum-PNP, composed of Lourdilyn Catubag and Karen Quilario, will lead the Filipinas’ charge together with runners-up Jackie Estoquia and DM Demontaño of Team Ilo-Ilo, and Charo Soriano and Bea Tan of Seafront Residences, and the pair of Dzi Gervacio and Sisi Rondina.
A press conference was held on April 26 at the Coconut Club in Bonifacio Global City graced by Soriano, Tan, Gervacio, Guzman, Pecana, and Larong Volleyball sa Pilipinas, Inc. secretary-general Ricky Palou to announce the arrival of the prestigious tournament to the country.
For the Men’s Division, they will have a qualification round with a single elimination knock out round. Then four teams that will qualify from this round will advance to the main draw where 12 teams are waiting. 16 teams will compete in the main draw with a modified pool play format. The Women’s Division will have the main draw right away that will be composed of 16 teams, four of which is from the Philippines.
A cash prize of $10,000 and tourney points for qualification in other FIVB beach volley tourneys awaits the winner of the intense action in the sands that will be contested by a total of 32 teams in the Men’s and Women’s Division from 23 participating countries.
Bea Tan, one of BVR’s founders said that bringing this tournament will only make beach volleyball bigger in the Philippines.
+“It has been Beach Volleyball Republic’s dream to host the most prestigious tournament for Beach Volleyball. We have been organizing and perfecting our own local BVR on Tour and it’s about time that Philippines gets to see a world class Beach Volleyball tournament. It is within BVR’s effort to streamline consistently our program for beach volleyball in the country with the FIVB,” she said.
Don’t miss the sizzling beach volleyball action brought to you by the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Manila Open in partnership with BVR at the SM Sands By The Bay on May 3 until May 6. Watch it live online on the ABS-CBN Sports Youtube channel. Catch the airing of the matches on the last day on ABS-CBN S+A and S+A HD on May 17 and 18 at 4 pm. For news and updates on the tournament, head to sports.abs-cbn.com or follow @abscbnsports on Facebook and Twitter. Also follow @BeachVolleyballRepublic on Facebook and Instagram, and @bvr_ph on Twitter and use the hashtags #BeachWorldTour, #FIVBManilaOpen, and #FIVBxBVR.